Dateline investigates the murder of 35-year-old Kelley Clayton who was brutally murdered in her home in Caton Town, New York in September 2015. She was bludgeoned to death with the broken handle of a maul. Tragically, her two children — daughter Charlie, 7, and son Cullen, 3 — witnessed their mother’s murder. The man who killed their mother, Michael Beard, a former employee of Kelley’s husband Tom Clayton, was found guilty of Kelley’s murder. In February 2017, Tom Clayton was also found guilty in connection to the death of his wife. (Beard says Clayton paid him $10,000 to kill Kelley.)
Tom and Kelley’s children are in the care of Kelley’s sister Kim, and her husband Corey Bourgeois. After Kelley’s death, they started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the future of the two children. Their goal was to raise $35,000 — they raised nearly $135,000. Dateline airs Fridays at 9pm on NBC.
